i think the Norfolk regiment was wiped out in this campagn.
The Turkish 57th Regiment was also wiped out - they were given the order by Mustafa Kemal: "I do not expect you to attack, I order you to die". Just after the landings they were just baout the only large and organised regiment and Kemal sent them into battle to hold the invasion force up until re-inforcements arrived. They were successful, but were wiped out - and to this day there is no 57th regiment in the Turkish army.
Hi Steve, not sure, I last saw him at Stevenage after the game, I see his dad a fair bit as he walks past the Rose and always see hello, I will catch him Tuesday night and see what hes up to, last heard he was living in Sydenham and his brother Dean near Brighton, see you at Chesterfield?
It was more than a few years ago now with Kuljit, in fact that was 99/00 as we all went for a celebration curry in Sydenham just around the corner from his after beating the stripey nigels at Selhurst and go about 16 points clear, there was about 10 or so of us in there singing and eating a memorable evening....
Thanks for the kind comments Henry, and also for Nick for coming along as well, good to meet you both. I am in Ypres now for the weekend with a group walking the Messines Ridge, back in time for the Bury game Tuesday!
Smudge - The war cemetery in Basra has recently been repaired by the CWGC, the local kids used to play football into prior to Op Telic, did you get to the Basra Memorial, Saddam moved it brick by brick to a road junction out in the desert, it no doubt saved it during the air phase of ops and by 2005 there were a number of families who had moved in, people living in a war memorial, quite bizzare. I got some fairly recent photos of it from a mate in 1/Rifles and it seems to have survived intact. With regards to the dates, the campaign in Mesopotamia did drag on somewhat and tribal uprisings that continued after the Armistice in the west that resulted in a number of casualties. Whilst this would be the official answer, you boss got it about right! Ps I was a scaleyback, who were you with?
I was with the Royal Anglians. I was deployed during Op Telic 2. I have got a couple of photos of the memorial in the loft somewhere. I'll download them next time I go up there. A couple of guys and I had a look round the cemetery whilst we were out there. We got half way through, when it occured to us that this would be ideal ground for IEDs. Procedure when out of the window and we all all scarpered back to the enterance!
Good skills smudge, I would like to see the pics one day, Vern Littley WOII in the Gunners does a talk on the memorial then and now which is fascinating, my cousin John Phillips was a colour sgt in the Royal Anglians around that time, hes still serving but not with the battalion, you might have come across him?
Don't know if this is the right place or if this has been pointed out before but for anyone on twitter who enjoys Military History I encourage you to follow: https://twitter.com/#!/realtimewwii It's an Oxford graduate giving real time tweets from the Second World War covering all areas of the conflict. Been doing it for a year now and France will fall over the course of the next month. Usually posts 10-20 a day.
Jints, was it "Masters and Commanders" by Andrew Roberts you read? I have recently come back from a week away with Max Hastings showing him some Great War stuff, I did think his "All Hell Let Loose" was fairly comprehensive, Anthony Beevors "The Second World War" is due out early June and is on pre order for Amazon. I have just finished a weighty tome in "Engage the Enemy More Closely" by Correlli Barnett its a Naval History but I really learnt a lot from it
It Was "Storm of War" - a good, readable book but too Eurocentric to be a proper overview
I'll probably read both Beevor and Hastings eventually. Not read any Barnett, although I've always meant to get around to his Pride and Fall sequence. There's just to much good stuff to read unfortunately - the latest volume of Caro's magesterial biog of Lyndon Johnson is oou soon too.
Have you ever read NAM Rodger's history of the British navy? "Command of the Ocean" is perhaps my favourite ever history book (and that's as someone who finds naval jargon impenetrable!).
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Whereabouts ?
A couple of guys and I had a look round the cemetery whilst we were out there. We got half way through, when it occured to us that this would be ideal ground for IEDs. Procedure when out of the window and we all all scarpered back to the enterance!
I finally found a picture in the loft.
This is the entrance to the British war cemetery in Basra circa 2003.
https://twitter.com/#!/realtimewwii
It's an Oxford graduate giving real time tweets from the Second World War covering all areas of the conflict. Been doing it for a year now and France will fall over the course of the next month. Usually posts 10-20 a day.
I'll probably read both Beevor and Hastings eventually. Not read any Barnett, although I've always meant to get around to his Pride and Fall sequence. There's just to much good stuff to read unfortunately - the latest volume of Caro's magesterial biog of Lyndon Johnson is oou soon too.
Have you ever read NAM Rodger's history of the British navy? "Command of the Ocean" is perhaps my favourite ever history book (and that's as someone who finds naval jargon impenetrable!).
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0007450729/ref=pe_179841_30084741_DotWUK_dt1